Removal of Cr(VI) from Contaminated Water by Raw and Modified Crataegus Pontica Kernel as Green Organic Adsorbent

The contamination of water resources due to chromium(VI) is one of the serious environmental hazards. The industrial effluents from paints and pigments, leather and chrome plating industries are major contamination sources. There are several ways to remove or reduce the chromium(VI) of the wastewater which have some advantages and disadvantages. The application of low-cost adsorbents obtained from plant wastes as a replacement for costly conventional methods of removing Cr (VI) ions from wastewater is necessary.In this study row and modified Crataegus pontica kernel, an agricultural waste is used for Cr(VI) removal as a green, natural and inexpensive valuable resource and environmentally benign adsorbent. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Elemental mapping, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize the row and modified Crataegus pontica kernel. This study reveals that modified Crataegus pontica kernel with Cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) is an efficient and cost effective adsorbent for Cr(VI) removal and it can be a solution for Cr(VI) discharging industries. Also, adsorption behavior of chromium(VI) was evaluated by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. In addition, Crataegus pontica kernel can be recovered and reused several times with no significant loss of its activity.